This is a city that I will definitely move to at some point in my lifetime.
We took the train from Québec City's beautiful central station aboard Via Rail. It was so relaxing and comfortable, and the train had wifi and electric plugs which is how I was able to upload the last blog post while on the train.
Quebec City, Central Station
Crossing over the river onto the island of Montréal
After Ian and I met Bértrand, our host, and dropped off our bags, we wandered out into the gay village (Le Village) to take advantage of how during the summers, the entire St. Cathérine street is blocked off to cars and is a pedestrian zone. Love when cities make their neighborhoods so much more livable like this
Beaudry metro station with its rainbow pillars
Next, we continued down to the water to the Vieux-Port (old port) area
After stopping for a quick snack, we wandered back up towards the Quartier des Spectacles and stumbled upon the Juste Pour Rire (just for laughs) comedy festival - also on streets closed off to cars all summer long
And just one block away, the International African Music Festival:
Montréal is well known for its unique style of architecture whereby stone buildings are accented with wrought-iron staircases that lead upwards to the "second" floor entrances. Our host told us this was because in the winter, the stairs leading upwards helps keep your door clear from the snow. If your door were at ground level, when 4 feet of snow piles up, you couldn't get in or out. It ends up being a beautiful and interesting accent to the urban landscape:
I absolutely love these staircases all around town, but Ian and I love the Plateau-Mont Royale neighborhood the most. Cute cafés, tranquil neighborhood right next to the mountain ... and, surprisingly, Montréal is quite an affordable city to live in. We think this is because the pay in Québec is lower than in some other parts of Canada (i.e. western Canada), therefore, the rent stays low. However, although the Québecois pay the most taxes out of all Canadian provinces, they also receive the most subsidized education (our host told us university tuition per year is about $3000 or so for Québec residents), the most universal healthcare coverage compared to other provinces, and the best public transit system.
We enjoyed a nice dinner out on the terrace in the gay village, with seats perfectly positioned for checking out all the other beaus walking around :-p
The following morning we headed out early to the Parc Olympique and the botanical gardens. It was a quick, direct metro ride (man, I love good public transit).
The former olympic stadium
The exhibition at the botanical gardens is Mosaïcultures Internationales ... basically, an international collaboration for three-dimensional planted works. Many countries and cities around the world put together a piece to show at the botanical garden, and the signs at each piece told you what city the piece was from, and what they represented.
Très beau, non?
Chinese gardens and lotus pond within the botanical garden
The most fun spinning chair things ever! Sooo dizzy afterwards
rawr
Our tickets for the botanical garden also included entrance into the world's largest insectarium
Can you find it?
What I wanted to see the most was the leaf-cutter ant exhibit ... it was SO cool! I'm always so amazed at what bees and ants can do working together. One of my MCAT verbal reasoning passages was actually about these creatures and their cooperation to survive. We often say that violence, aggression, and selfishness are biological means to survive. This may be so, but if ants and bees (who most would consider as lacking in self-realization) are simply acting day-to-day to survive, then it must also be true that cooperation, altruism, and selflessness are just as biologically important to survival as well. I believe this to be true ... we don't all pull ourselves up by our bootstraps as the American worldview likes to suggest. Our success (or lack thereof) doesn't happen in a vacuum, and one's position in society is not 100% reflective of how hard they work or don't work. So many other factors play a part in determining our lives.
The leaf cutter ants ... watch the moment when he breaks the leaf piece free to take back to the nest!
The leaf cutter ants ... watch the moment when he breaks the leaf piece free to take back to the nest!
Once in the nest, the leaves are chewed up by other ants and used to feed a fungus that the ants grow as their food source. They don't eat the leaf directly as a food source. Amazing!
On the right is Francis ... our awesome guide through the sensory garden where we touched and smelled all of the different, amazing plants. He gave me a leaf badge from one of the plants which has a velcro-like leaf underside allowing it to stick to my shirt!
Walking around all day in the huge botanical garden worked up our appetite so we headed to a true Montréal institution ... La Banquise! Known for the all-so-delicious, heart-attack inducing, Québecois specialty of Poutine!
Poutine is basically double-fried french fries, brown gravy, and cheese curds. The hot fries and gravy should melt the cheese curds slightly, but not too much, and the cheese curds should be 'squeaky' when you eat them. La Banquise has the traditional preparation, but so many more as well ... and it didn't disappoint.
On the way back through the Plateau-Mont Royal neighborhood, we found this piano ... the sign says "for you to play. You are invited to play between 10am and 8pm every day of the week!"
We called it a night so we could get up early for another one of Montréal's great foods ... the Montréal wood-fired bagel!
At St. Viateur we basked in the smell of honey-water baked bagels which were wood-fired for a crispy outside and chewy inside.
Lox and bagel, of course.
Wood fire oven
Sufficiently energized, we climbed up Mont Royal - a beautiful park on the mountain overlooking the entire city, but first, we dropped another Montréal institution for a well-known smoked meat sandwich to bring with us on the hike.
At the top of Mont Royal from the château
Smoked meat sandwich from Schwarts'. Normally I am not a meat sandwich eater, but this was SO good!
One of the schools I had considered applying to for undergrad studies, and a school that is on my top-3 list for medical schools is McGill University, located just at the base of Mont Royal. On the way down the mountain, we passed through McGill's gorgeous campus. No wonder it's considered the 'Canadian Harvard' ...
Victoria Hospital ... the medical center and teaching hospital of McGill University
Obviously what I get on my MCAT will determine whether I can even apply here or not ... but wow. I think it may have just moved to the top of my list of schools. To be able to live in such a cool city like Montréal and study at one of the world's most renowned schools ...
Casino Montréal
We won over $30 on a penny slot machine on my roll!
It was an awesome stay here in Montréal and I will DEFINITELY be back here again. Ian and I have decided that whether it's in the near future for school, or maybe a little later on in life, at some point we will move here. Sans doute.
Now, tomorrow, we head off to Ian's family's lodge in the Appalachian mountains of Vermont. No internet, so it'll probably be a week before I get things updated. Time for me to go fly fishing, lounge about, play board games, finally read those books I brought (no more MCAT reading!!!) and just relax
À la prochaine!
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